The invention relates to a bipolar tubular shaft instrument with a housing portion and two instrument legs, one of which is stationary and the other of which is pivotable about an axis relative to the stationary first leg, or in which both instrument legs are pivotable relative to each other. A pull- and/or push rod engages on the pivotable instrument leg(s) and by means of an axial movement effects the pivoting. A tube, receiving and mounting the push rod, is releasably attached to the housing portion, within which the push rod is movable in the axial direction. A handle is attached to the housing portion and a second handle is provided, pivotable relative thereto, which acts on the push rod by a connecting joint. Two high frequency current terminals are provided, the one current terminal being connected to the push rod and the other current terminal being connected to the tube, and an insulation being provided between the push rod and the tube.
Such tube shaft instruments are known and have proved useful, above all in minimally invasive surgery. According to the configuration of the working portion, and thus above all the instrument leg, and according to the length of the tube shaft, such an instrument may also be used in other operations, for example in open surgery.
Since the problem exists with such bipolar shaft instruments that the tube and the push rod have to be released from the housing portion for their sterilization, the electrical connections or respectively current terminals also have to be broken and released, and on reconnection have to be produced again with such great security that no electrical losses result. With such tubular shaft instruments known heretofore, this leads to expensive solutions which entail difficult mounting.